Object storage and synchronization hooks for occasionally-connected devices

ABSTRACT

A system may include an application programming interface (API) layer, a cache layer, and an object storage/access layer. The API layer may expose an interface to store a business object and an interface to retrieve the business object, and may transmit a request to store the business object and a request to retrieve the business object, and the cache layer may cache the business object and transmit the request to store the business object and the request to retrieve the business object. The object storage/access layer may receive the request to store the business object and, in response to the request to store the business object, to invoke a serialization method exposed by the business object to store the data associated with the object in a data structure. The object storage/access layer may also receive the request to retrieve the business object and, in response to the request to retrieve the business object, to invoke a deserialization method of the business object to deserialize the data associated with the business object in the data structure.

FIELD

Some embodiments relate to enterprise systems utilizingoccasionally-connected devices. In particular, some embodiments areassociated with storage of business objects within mobile devices and/orsynchronization of the stored business objects with a back-end datastore.

BACKGROUND

Mobile devices are increasingly used for executing business processes.Such business processes utilize and manipulate business data stored onthe mobile devices. In one example, a delivery person may deliver aproduct to customers along an established route. The delivery person mayuse a mobile device to determine a product quantity and deliveryschedule for each customer on the route, to enter new orders and/orchanges to existing orders, and to indicate successful delivery of anorder. The mobile device must therefore receive business data from aback-end system that is specific to the route with which the mobiledevice is associated (e.g., product quantities, delivery schedules), aswell as transmit business data (e.g., new and/or changed orderinformation) to the back-end system for validation and storage therein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an internal software architecture of a mobile devicewhich employs Java Data Object (JDO) persistency. As shown, mobiledevice 10 includes application 20 and database element 30. Application20 provides the JDO Application Programming Interface (API) to businessprocesses (not shown) executed by mobile device 10. Generally, the JDOAPI allows the business processes to store and to retrieve JDOs to andfrom database element 30 using a standard set of interfaces.

To store an object, a business process first invokes an appropriateinterface of the JDO API. The object is cached and its data isserialized to an intermediate form using a database driver-specificStructured Query Language (SQL) serializer. The serialized data ispassed to a database driver for transmission to database element 30.Database element 30 parses the received data and provides the parseddata to an access methods module. The module deserializes the data inits intermediate form and then serializes the data for storage in adatabase.

Conversely, retrieval of the data includes invoking an interface of theJDO API to request the corresponding object, passing the request throughthe cache, SQL serializer, the database driver, the parser, the accessmethods module, and to the database. The data is retrieved from thedatabase, deserialized and serialized into the intermediate form usingthe access methods module. The serialized data is passed to a resultbuilder for building an appropriate response to the request, through thedatabase driver, a result parser, the cache and back to the businessprocess via the JDO API. Such storage and retrieval of business data isunsuitably inefficient for many usage scenarios, including whenresources are limited and/or when high performance is required.

Conventional systems also do not adequately address local storage andsynchronization of business data between a mobile device and a back-endsystem. Synchronization issues arise because the nature of a mobiledevice to become occasionally-disconnected from its associated back-endsystem. The frequency and unpredictability of such disconnections createdifficulties in keeping mobile devices up-to-date with respect to theirassociated data, and in maintaining an accurate record of the internalstate of the mobile devices.

Improvements to the efficiency of mobile object data storage and/orsynchronization are therefore desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art system for object storage in amobile device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system topology according to someembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a software architecture according to someembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of process steps to store data associated witha business object according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of process steps to retrieve data associatedwith a business object according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a software architecture according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an object cache architecture according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of process steps to generate business objectsaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates object code of a business object marked with a firstmarker according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates object code of a business object marked with asecond marker according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 2 illustrates a topology of enterprise system 100 according to someembodiments. System 100 may, for example, provide management of businessdata among disparate and occasionally-connected mobile devices. System100 includes back-end system 111 in communication with communicationnetwork 120. Also in communication with communication network 120 aremobile devices 130 through 170.

Back-end system 110 of FIG. 2 includes database management system (DBMS)112 and database 114. DBMS 112 may comprise executable program code toretrieve data from database 114. Database 114 may comprise one or moredisparate systems for storing data, therefore DBMS 112 may comprise oneor more systems for retrieving stored data. According to someembodiments, database 114 is implemented as any suitable collection ofdata that may be accessed by a computer program to select particulardata from the collection. Back-end system 110 may comprise other unshownelements to provide an enterprise system such as SAP R/3™ EnterpriseResource Planning system.

Back-end system 110 may also comprise any other suitable program code,scripts, or other functional data that is executable to interface withcommunication network 120 and mobile devices 130 through 170 asdescribed herein. Back-end system 110 may comprise any combination ofhardware, software, and/or firmware elements that may provide thefunctions that are attributed to a back-end system herein. Two or moreof these elements may be located remotely from one another and maycommunicate with one another via communication network 120 and/or adedicated connection.

As used herein, systems “in communication” with one another are directlyor indirectly capable of communicating over any number of differentsystems for transferring data, including but not limited to a local areanetwork, a wide area network, a telephone network, a cellular network, afiber-optic network, a satellite network, an infrared network, a radiofrequency network, and any other type of network that may be used totransmit information between devices. Moreover, communication betweensystems may proceed over any one or more currently or hereafter-knowntransmission protocols, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM),Internet Protocol (IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and WirelessApplication Protocol (WAP). Communication network 120 may thereforecomprise any communication media and protocols that are or become known.

Mobile devices 130 through 170 may interact with business objectsmaintained by back-end system 110. Mobile devices 130 through 170 maygenerate, access and/or modify identical, overlapping, or completelydifferent sets of business objects depending on their respective datasubscriptions. Continuing with the example from the Background, abusiness object (BO) may comprise an order placed by a customer and maytherefore be associated with the one of mobile devices 130 through 170that is assigned to a delivery route to which that customer belongs.Back-end system 110 may provide conflict resolution and synchronizationservices natively and/or via middleware (not shown).

Mobile devices 130 through 170 may comprise any of a laptop, a personaldigital assistant, a tablet computer, a handheld computer, a cellulartelephone, a dedicated mobile device, and any other suitable mobiledevice or devices that are or become known. As mentioned above, mobiledevices 140 through 170 may occasionally connect to back-end system 110directly or via communication network 120.

FIG. 3 illustrates software architecture 300 for a mobile deviceaccording to some embodiments. Software architecture 300 may be used inconjunction with one or more of mobile devices 130 through 170 accordingto some embodiments. Embodiments are not limited to architecture 300,and architecture 300 may be implemented in any currently- orhereafter-known manner. For example, each illustrated software elementmay be embodied as services, layers, and/or core components of anassociated operating environment, and/or may be embodied by any otherexecutable software component, including a dynamic link library or astand-alone application.

Elements of architecture 300 may operate to receive a request to store abusiness object, cache the business object, invoke a serializationmethod of the business object to serialize data associated with thebusiness object, and store the serialized data in a data structure inassociation with the business object. Elements of architecture 300 mayalso operate to receive information regarding the storage of thebusiness object, and determine changes to the data stored in associationwith the business object. Conversely, embodiments may receive a requestto retrieve a business object, retrieve serialized data associated withthe business object from a data structure, invoke a deserializationmethod of the business object to deserialize the data, and return thebusiness object with the deserialized data.

Architecture 300 includes business processes 310 interacting with system320 in order to store data in and retrieve data from database 330.Business processes 310 may generate, access and/or modify businessobjects according to some embodiments. A business object as discussedherein may refer to a particular instance of a business object that isassociated with particular data.

Business processes 310 may transmit requests to store business objectsin and/or retrieve business objects from database 330. Businessprocesses 310 may comprise standalone business applications 311 andapplication stack 312. Application stack 312 may include businessapplications written in Java Server Pages (JSP) format, a Web browser toprovide user interface rendering for such applications, and a Web serverto provide an execution environment (e.g., a Java Virtual Machine) forthe JSP business applications. Any suitable business process that is orbecomes known may be used in conjunction with some embodiments.

System 320 includes API layer 340, cache layer 350, direct objectstorage/access layer, and synchronization service layer 370. API layer340 may expose an interface to store a business object and an interfaceto retrieve the business object, and may transmit a request to store thebusiness object and a request to retrieve the business object.Interfaces exposed by API layer 340 may comply with the JDO APIspecification, but embodiments are not limited thereto. In a case thatAPI layer 340 exposes such complying interfaces, actions associated withthe interfaces exposed by API layer 340 may differ markedly from thoserequired by the JDO API specification.

Cache layer 350 provides access to underlying persistence implementationlayer 360. Cache layer 350 may also or alternatively store a number ofrecently-used objects to provide quick access thereto. In someembodiments, cache layer 350 may cache a to-be-stored business objectand transmit a request to store the business object. Cache 350 may alsoor alternatively transmit a request to retrieve the business object.Details of cache 350 according to some embodiments are provided below.

Direct object storage/access layer 360 may receive request to store thebusiness object from cache layer 350 and, in response, may invoke aserialization method exposed by the business object to store dataassociated with the business object in database 330. Direct objectstorage/access layer 360 may also receive a request to retrieve thebusiness object from cache layer 350 and, in response to the request toretrieve the business object, invoke a deserialization method of thebusiness object to deserialize the data associated with the businessobject in the database 330.

Synchronization service layer 370 may receive information from cache 350regarding the storage of a business object in database 330.Synchronization service layer 370 may use this information to determinechanges to the data associated with the business object. The determinedchanges may be used to synchronize the data stored in database 330 withthe data stored in association with the business object in database 114of back-end system 110. Synchronization service 370 may be designed withrespect to a generic synchronization abstraction and may therefore becapable of providing synchronization services to systems other thansystem 320.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of process 400 to store data associated with abusiness object according to some embodiments. Process 400, as well asthe other processes described herein, may be performed by anycombination of hardware, software, and firmware. Process 400 will bedescribed below as if executed by system 320 of FIG. 3, but embodimentsare not limited thereto.

Initially, a request to store a business object is received at 410. Inone example, business process 311 invokes an interface exposed by APIlayer 340. The invocation passes a business object to API layer 340 andcomprises a request to store the business object in database 330. Asdescribed above, the business object is a particular instance of abusiness object, and includes data associated with the particularinstance. The received request may also indicate that the businessobject implements one or more methods that may be used at 430 asdescribed below.

The business object is cached at 420. Cache layer 350 may cache theobject until storage of the business object is complete. Cache layer 350also provides access to direct object/storage access layer 360.According to some embodiments described below, cache layer 350 providesinformation to sync service 370 that may be used to determine changes todatabase 330 since a last synchronization with back-end system 110. Thebusiness object itself may include one or methods that may be invoked toprovide the information. Inclusion of these methods in the businessobject according to some embodiments will be described below.

Next, at 430, a serialization method of the business object is invoked.The serialization method serializes data associated with the businessobject. Accordingly, the business object includes one or more methodsfor serializing its own data. In some embodiments, such methods areadded to the business object during compilation thereof using a classrebuilder as will be described below with respect to FIGS. 7 through 9.Direct object/storage access layer 360 may invoke the serializationmethod at 430 according to some embodiments.

The serialized data is stored in a data structure at 440. In the presentexample, direct object/storage access layer 360 stores the serializeddata in database 330 in association with the business object. Suchstorage may comprise storing an identifier of the business object(instance) in association with the serialized data in database 330.Direct object/storage access layer 360 may store the data in any formand using any database management protocol that might govern database330.

According to some embodiments, database 330 provides information tosynchronization service 370 after 440. Synchronization service 370 mayuse the information to determine changes to the data stored in database330. Again, such changes may be used to synchronize the data stored inassociation with the stored business object in database 330 with thedata stored in association with the stored business object in database114 of back-end system 110.

Some embodiments include a computer-readable medium storing programcode, the program code comprising: code to receive a request to store abusiness object; code to cache the business object; code to invoke aserialization method of the business object to serialize data associatedwith the business object; and code to store the serialized data in adata structure in association with the business object.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of process 500 to retrieve a stored businessobject according to some embodiments. The business object may be storedin database 330.

At 520, a request to retrieve a business object is received. Forexample, business process 312 may invoke an interface exposed by APIlayer 340 at 520. The invocation identifies a business object andcomprises a request to retrieve the business object from database 330.More particularly, the invocation comprises a request to retrieveserialized data associated with an instance of the business object andstored in database 330. The request may also indicate, using the invokedinterface, another interface, or any other means, that the businessobject includes one or more methods that may be used as will bedescribed below with respect to 530.

The serialized data is retrieved from the data structure at 520. In thepresent example, direct object/storage access layer 360 retrieves theserialized data from database 330 using an identifier of the businessobject that was passed in the request. Direct object/storage accesslayer 360 may retrieve the data using any database management protocolthat is compatible with database 330.

A deserialization method of the business object is then invoked at 530.Direct object/storage access layer 360 may invoke the serializationmethod at 430 according to some embodiments. The deserialization methoddeserializes the retrieved data into an appropriate object format.Accordingly, the business object includes one or more methods fordeserializing its own data. These methods may be added to the businessobject during compilation as will be described below.

The business object, including the deserialized data, is returned to therequesting entity at 540. The return may comprise a callback to businessprocess 312 managed by API layer 340.

Some embodiments, include a computer-readable medium storing programcode, the program code comprising: code to receive a request to retrievea business object; code to retrieve serialized data associated with thebusiness object from a data structure; code to invoke a deserializationmethod of the business object to deserialize the data; and code toreturn the business object with the deserialized data.

FIG. 6 illustrates software architecture 600 for a mobile deviceaccording to some embodiments. Software architecture 600 may comprise aparticular implementation of architecture 300 of FIG. 3, but embodimentsare not limited thereto. Elements of architecture 600 may be implementedin any currently- or hereafter-known manner, including those describedabove with respect to architecture 300.

Cache layer 610, as described above with respect to cache layer 350, maycache a to-be-stored business object, transmit a request to store thebusiness object, transmit a request to retrieve the business object,and/or store a number of recently-used objects to provide quick accessthereto. In some embodiments, cache layer 610 also indicates whether abusiness object includes methods for serializing and deserializingitself. Cache layer 610 may also indicate whether the business objectincludes methods for providing its own synchronization information tosynchronization service 620.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a portion of cache layer 610 according tosome embodiments. Cache layer 610 is in communication with businessprocesses 310 through API layer 340. API layer 340 may provide businessobject information to cache layer 610 that is used to modify elements611 through 614.

Default persistence manager 611 may comprise a hash table for trackingall or a subset of business objects of business processes 310 and/orstored in database 330. Each object in the database 330 “cache” isassociated with a reference via persistent reference implementation 613and with a cache handle object via element 612. The cache handle objectholds soft references to persistent reference implementation 613 and topersistent object 614. These soft references can be dropped by a garbagecollector to conserve memory.

The cache handle object is registered with a reference queue associatedwith persistence manager 611. Persistence manager 611 drops cachehandles from its hash when associated objects have been dropped. If anapplication holds a strong reference to an object, then the garbagecollector cannot remove the object and reference. If an applicationholds a strong reference to a persistent reference implementation (i.e.,OID) of an object, then the object may be garbage-collected because itcan be reloaded from persistence. The foregoing may also hold forpersistent objects reachable from other persistent objects, since Javareferences are re-written with PersistentReference internally. Thus,even if an application strongly references persistent object A, while Astrongly references persistent object B, B can be removed from cache,since the strong reference from A to B is re-written as a strongreference to PersistentReference of B and thus B itself is held only viasoft reference.

All not yet-flushed modified objects are additionally stronglyreferenced from persistence manager 611 in order to hold the objects inmemory. In order to allow the user to store PersistentReferenceinstances across persistence managers, persistence manager 611 willclone the reference for internal purposes in getObjectByld, if needed(e.g., if the reference points to another persistence manager). If thereference is not associated with a cache handle object, then it willbecome a new synchronized cache handle object. Persistence manager 611may also clear all cache handle objects and references oncommit/rollback, so the reference may be reused after commit/rollback todereference objects.

Returning to architecture 600, several other elements are present thatwere not previously described with respect to architecture 300. Theseelements include transaction manager 620 and undo manager 630.Transaction manager 620 and undo manager 630 are in communication withcache layer 610 to facilitate persistence management.

More specifically, transaction manager 620 may manage the object storageand retrieval transactions described above. Such management may includechanges made to a business object by a first transaction are visible toa second transaction only after the changes have been committed. Toavoid conflict, transaction manager may also prevent a transaction fromchanging a business object once the business object is changed by aconcurrent transaction. Transaction manager 620 may also restore a priorversion of a business object based on an “undo” file.

Transaction manager 620 may provide undo files to undo manager 630 whennew data is committed to database 330. Undo manager 630 thereforemanages the undo files, which may include purging the undo filesaccording to an established protocol.

Converter/Free Block Manager 640 may provide layer 360 withlogical-to-physical page ID mapping, fixed and floating logical pageallocation, savepoint support, and management of physical page state andstate transitions. In addition, page data cache 650 may cache thephysical pages, read and write the physical pages, and provide temporarypages for “scratch space”. The page data is stored in data file 660.

Log writer 670 may comprise a write-ahead log writer which layer 360uses to store a log of each changing operation in log file 680 prior toexecuting the operation. In some embodiments, log writer 670 and logfile 680 provide support for savepoints by storing dirty pages andspecial log records for a savepoint, and by indexing the savepoint in arestart record. Accordingly, on a restore, the indexed savepoint may beread and restored based on its associated log records. Database 330 ofarchitecture 300 may comprise log file 680 and data file 660 accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of process 800 to generate businessobjects according to some embodiments. Process 800 may be executed by aany one or more devices, including but not limited to a developer'sworkstation.

Source code including source code classes is generated at 801. Thesource code classes may comprise source code of Java classes and aportion of a business process to be executed by a mobile device. One ormore of the source code classes may comprise a business object asdescribed above. In this regard, one or more of the source code classesmay define data to be associated with an instantiation thereof.

The source code may comprise any code that may be compiled for executionin any execution environment. The source code may be generated by anyplatform in which source code may be developed. The code may compriseASCII characters formatted according to the Java programming language,but embodiments are not limited thereto.

Next, at 802, a first plurality of the source code classes is marked aspersistable. In some embodiments, such a marking indicates that thefirst plurality of classes are to include one or more methods toserialize and deserialize itself. Persistence-related methods will bedescribed in more detail below.

FIG. 9 illustrates a source code class that is marked according to someembodiments of 802. As shown, source code class 900 implements the emptyinterface “Persistable”. Marking at 802 may therefore comprisespecifying that class 900 implements this particularly empty interface.Any suitable type of marker may be employed at 802. Each of the firstplurality of the source code classes is similarly marked in someembodiments.

A second plurality of source code classes is marked as sync-capable at803. This marking may indicate that each of the second plurality ofclasses is to include one or more methods to provide its ownsynchronization information to a synchronization service. The secondplurality of source code classes may or may not be mutually exclusivewith the first plurality of source code classes. That is, a singlesource code class may be marked as persistable at 802 and sync-capableat 803. According to some embodiments, the sync-capable markingeffectively marks a class as sync-capable and persistable. Thesync-capable marking therefore indicates that the class is to includeone or more methods to serialize and deserialize itself as well as oneor more methods to provide its own synchronization information to asynchronization service.

Source code class 1000 of FIG. 10 is marked according to someembodiments of 803. As shown, class 1000 implements the empty interface“SyncCapable”. Any suitable type of marker may be employed for each ofthe second plurality of the source code classes at 803.

The generated source code classes, including the first plurality ofclasses, the second plurality of classes, and perhaps other classes, iscompiled at 804. Compiling proceeds with respect to the environment inwhich the compiled code is to be executed. In other words, the compilerused at 804 is intended to produce code that may be executed in theintended execution environment.

After compilation at 804, a byte code is determined for each compiledclass at 805. The byte code for a class indicates whether the class wasmarked at 802 and/or 803. A class rebuilder may be executed at 805 todetermine the respective byte codes. Such a class enhancer may alsoexecute 806 through 810 as described below according to someembodiments.

Next, at 806, it is determined whether one of the compiled classes wasmarked as persistable. This determination may be based on a byte codeassociated with the compiled class. If the byte code indicates that theclass was marked as persistable, persistence-related methods are addedto the class at 807. The persistence-related methods may be accessedonly by direct object storage/access layer 360 in some embodiments.According to some embodiments, the persistence-related methods include:

-   -   makePersistent(Object): PersistentReference    -   deletePersistent(Object)    -   getObjectId(Object): PersistentReference    -   getObjectById(PersistentReference): Object    -   getIterator(Class, Boolean): Iterator    -   lockObject(Object)    -   currentTransaction( ): Transaction

Flow proceeds to 808 after 807 or if the determination at 806 isnegative. It is determined at 808 whether the subject compiled class wasmarked as sync-capable at 803. Again, this determination may be based ona byte code associated with the compiled class. Synchronization-relatedmethods are added to the class at 809 if it is determined that the classwas marked as sync-capable. The synchronization-related methods maycomprise one or more methods that provide information associated withchanges to an instantiation of the class.

Flow proceeds to 810 after 809 or a negative determination at 808. Ifother compiled classes have not yet been evaluated at 806 and 808, flowreturns to 806 and proceeds as described above for a second compiledclass. Flow therefore cycles from 806 through 810 until each compiledclass includes one of, both of, or neither of the persistence-relatedmethods and the synchronization-related methods. Process 800 thereafterterminates.

The class-enhancement of process 800 may occur at any suitable time. Forexample, process 800 may be executed at compilation time, deploymenttime, and/or at class loading time (runtime). Embodiments, of course,are not limited thereto.

Some embodiments, include a computer-readable medium storing programcode, the program code comprising: code to mark a first plurality ofsource code classes with a first marker; code to compile the firstplurality of source code classes; code to identify the compiled classesas marked with the first marker; code to add, for each identifiedcompiled class, a first interface to the class to serialize dataassociated with an instance of the class; and code to add, for eachidentified compiled class, a second interface to the class todeserialize serialized data associated with an instance of the class.

The embodiments described herein are solely for the purpose ofillustration. Those skilled in the art will recognize other embodimentsmay be practiced with modifications and alterations limited only by theclaims.

1. A system comprising: a device, comprising: an operating environmentcomprising: an application programming interface layer to expose aninterface to store a business object and an interface to retrieve thebusiness object, and to transmit a request to store the business objectand a request to retrieve the business object; a cache layer to cachethe business object and to transmit the request to store the businessobject and the request to retrieve the business object; and an objectstorage/access layer to: receive the request to store the businessobject and, in response to the request to store the business object, toinvoke a serialization method exposed by the business object to storethe data associated with the object in a data structure; and receive therequest to retrieve the business object and, in response to the requestto retrieve the business object, to invoke a deserialization method ofthe business object to deserialize the data associated with the businessobject in the data structure; wherein the business object includes theserialization method exposed by the business object; and wherein thebusiness object includes the deserialization method of the businessobject.
 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising: asynchronization service layer to receive information regarding thestorage of the business object and to determine changes to the dataassociated with the business object.
 3. A system according to claim 2,wherein the synchronization service layer is to receive the informationfrom the object cache layer.
 4. A system according to claim 2, whereinthe synchronization service layer is to transmit the changes to aback-end system.
 5. A method, comprising: receiving a request to store abusiness object; caching the business object; in response to the requestto store the business object, invoking a serialization method of thebusiness object to serialize data associated with the business object,wherein the business object includes the serialization method of thebusiness object; and storing the serialized data in a data structure inassociation with the business object; wherein the receiving, thecaching, the invoking and the storing are performed by a device.
 6. Amethod according to claim 5, further comprising: receiving informationregarding the storage of the business object; and determining changes tothe data stored in association with the business object.
 7. A methodaccording to claim 6, further comprising: transmitting the changes to aback-end system.
 8. A method according to claim 5, further comprising:executing a data storage layer to invoke the serialization method and tostore the serialized data in the data structure; and executing the datastorage layer to invoke a serialization method of a second businessobject to serialize data associated with the second business object, andto store the serialized data associated with the second business objectin the data structure in association with the second business object. 9.A method according to claim 5, wherein the device is a mobile device.10. A method according to claim 5, further comprising: receiving arequest to retrieve the business object; retrieving serialized dataassociated with the business object from the data structure; in responseto the request to retrieve the business object, invoking adeserialization method of the business object to deserialize the data,wherein the business object includes the deserialization method of thebusiness object; and returning the business object with the deserializeddata; wherein the receiving the request to retrieve, the retrieving, theinvoking the deserialization method and the returning are performed bythe device.
 11. A method, comprising: receiving a request to retrieve abusiness object; retrieving serialized data associated with the businessobject from a data structure; in response to the request to retrieve thebusiness object, invoking a deserialization method of the businessobject to deserialize the data, wherein the business object includes thedeserialization method of the business object; and returning thebusiness object with the deserialized data; wherein the receiving, theretrieving, the invoking and the returning are performed by a device.12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising: executing a datastorage layer to retrieve the serialized data and to invoke thedeserialization method; and executing the data storage layer to retrieveserialized data associated with a second business object from the datastructure and to invoke a deserialization method of the second businessobject to deserialize the data associated with the second businessobject.
 13. A method according to claim 11, wherein the device is amobile device.
 14. A computer-readable medium storing program code, theprogram code comprising: code to receive a request to store a businessobject; code to cache the business object; code to, in response to therequest to store the business object, invoke a serialization method ofthe business object to serialize data associated with the businessobject, wherein the business object includes the serialization method ofthe business object; and code to store the serialized data in a datastructure in association with the business object.
 15. A mediumaccording to claim 14, the program code further comprising: code toreceive information regarding the storage of the business object; andcode to determine changes to the data stored in association with thebusiness object.
 16. A medium according to claim 15, the program codefurther comprising: code to transmit the changes to a back-end system.17. A medium according to claim 14, the program code further comprising:code to execute a data storage layer to invoke the serialization methodand to store the serialized data in the data structure; and code toexecute the data storage layer to invoke a serialization method of asecond business object to serialize data associated with the secondbusiness object, and to store the serialized data associated with thesecond business object in the data structure in association with thesecond business object.
 18. A computer-readable medium storing programcode, the program code comprising: code to receive a request to retrievea business object; code to retrieve serialized data associated with thebusiness object from a data structure; code to, in response to therequest to retrieve the business object, invoke a deserialization methodof the business object to deserialize the data, wherein the businessobject includes the deserialization method of the business object; andcode to return the business object with the deserialized data.
 19. Amedium according to claim 18, the program code further comprising: codeto execute a data storage layer to retrieve the serialized data and toinvoke the deserialization method; and code to execute the data storagelayer to retrieve serialized data associated with a second businessobject from the data structure and to invoke a deserialization method ofthe second business object to deserialize the data associated with thesecond business object.